Off duty Mary Sue Hunter
by Zalein
Summary: An off duty Mary Sue Hunter takes advantage of her portal traveling priviladges to stalk Kratos. Later, she reluctantly helps Kratos search for Sacred Wood.
1. Asgard

_Author's Note: The Mary Sue Hunter (Niaki) is an original character of mine who both hunts Mary-Sues, and enjoys the privileges of occasionally becoming a Mary-Sue/Self Insert character herself. This all takes place sometime around the Tales of Symphonia group's first visit to Asgard. _

_These interludes between mainly Kratos and Niaki were written purely for my own enjoyment, and have no deep or special meaning—it's just meant to be funny._

_That said, I want to make it known that I do not own any of the characters you have seen before today. Enjoy the fic!_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kratos was being watched.

Countless years of working as a mercenary had honed his skills to tell him this. Someone was watching him, the person's eyes glued to the auburn hair on the top of his head.

This person was annoying.

She had been staring at him since the moment he had entered the inn's tavern. Well, perhaps not the entire time—occasionally the weight of her stare would leave him, and he would notice Lloyd glancing uneasily around from time to time. It had taken Kratos all of fifteen seconds to locate the source of the stares—it was a female human looking to be in her late teenaged years, or perhaps her early twenties. She was clad in a dull turquoise uniform of sorts. When she had seen that he'd noticed her, she had looked away, only to resume her intense scrutiny when she thought he wasn't looking.

This was tedious. The Chosen's group would probably be staying in Asgard for days—there was a general unrest over the city, and the group needed to restock their supplies. This tavern was by no means the only one in this city—the tourists that the city attracted liked the variety—but it was by far the most convenient. If the Chosen's group would have to suffer the weight of prying eyes every evening, then their privacy would be compromised. Kratos' job was ensuring the safety of the Chosen. He would have to deal with this intrusion sooner or later.

"… really something, don't you think, Kratos?" A voice from the conversation that had been floating around him directed itself at him.

"Hm." Kratos grunted, not having been paying attention. Lloyd grinned, rounding on Genis as though Kratos had proven his point.

"See, Genis? Even Kratos likes this stuff! Like I said, a little spicy, but it's good!"

"But Lloyd, it's too spicy—the cook put too much pepper in it, it's everywhere…"

"Well, spicy's good!"

"But not _this_ spicy…"

Kratos tuned them out again, turning his head suddenly. The teenager across the room from the door quickly looked in a different direction, but not quickly enough to avoid being caught staring. With a small frown of annoyance, Kratos turned away again, pushing away from the table. The rest of the group looked up.

"So what's—Hey, Kratos, what's wrong?" Lloyd asked. Genis avoided the man's gaze, but it was clear he was annoyed at yet another interruption.

"I will be back later." Kratos said quietly.

"Huh—But where're you—"

"I need to clear my head. I'm going for a walk."

"Hey, can I come wit—"

"No."

"Fine…"

Kratos ghosted towards the door, slipping out into the dusk-dipped world outside.

"… Oh no… Mister Kratos left his food without eating again…" Colette pointed out worriedly.

"Yes, he did…" The Professor agreed.

"Oh… Should I bring it to him? He might get hungry later and…"

"Don't be silly, dear—if he's hungry later, he can go to the kitchens and prepare something for himself…" Raine made a motion as though waving the girl's worries away. "Now don't forget to eat your potatoes, they're good for you…"

"Yes, Professor! Lloyd's right, they're really good!"

"Ha! Told you, Genis!" Lloyd crowed.

Genis whined. "Colette doesn't count, she'll say that about anything…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Niaki was torn. She could either stay at her table in her cozy little corner of the tavern, or she could get up and follow the object of her admiration—the mercenary.

She fidgeted in her seat for a few more long moments, tugging one of her two poofy pigtails while she thought. The rest of the group… or Kratos…. The rest of the group…. Kratos…

"Tall, dark, and scary, prepare to be stalked." She muttered, standing up from her place, making her way towards the door after him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Twenty minutes later saw her in a cold, windy place along the cliffs above where the tourist-attracting town crouched, cursing quietly to herself. She had followed the darkly clad form for quite a ways, taking great pains to be as quiet as possible. Even so, she had noticed him glancing back at her from time to time. At the time she had merely put her hands in her pockets and slouched doggedly on after him. He knew she was following him—so what?

Upon retrospect, she decided, being sneakier might have had better results—if he hadn't noticed her, she might have been able to watch him longer. Being sneaky in her current mary-sue-hunter uniform was hard, though—despite her efforts for silence, the array of daggers and their sheathes attached to the pair of crossed belts at her waist clinked faintly with every step, and her hard-soled boots were not made for stealth. Oh well—she would try stalking him again some other time.

Something in a pocket of hers chirped like a cricket. Niaki reached inside the pocket, took out, and picked up the cell phone guilty of the noise. It recieved a small, distasteful glare. "Hello?"

A male voice of someone her age slogged its way through static. "Hey, Niaki, you busy? We just found a pair of Sues at large in the G-15 T-O-S sector, and it seems like there might be a chance of a reenactment of last week's fireworks."

"Does headquarters know about this? Who else is going?"

"What, with the shut-downs of the Epsilon servers? Of course not. Kadik and Theo are already on their way—they wanted a chance to get a clear shot at the Sues before you came and blowed the place up. They still remember that tractor incident, you know."

"Geeze, I said I was sorry about that…" She didn't sound it. Judging by the small giggle following her words, she wasn't at all. "Okay, I'm on my way."

"Alright. By the way—Death-glare-ninja-seraph behind you. Thought you'd want to know." There was a small click, and the connection went dead.

"Huh? Death-glare-whaah?" Niaki twisted to glance over her shoulder.

She saw auburn hair, and the glint of a drawn steel sword. Started to turn the rest of her to face him.

"If you wish to die, by all means keep moving." Kratos said.

Niaki froze.

"Who are you?" His tone was threatening. It occurred to Niaki that she was at a disadvantage—a serious disadvantage, at that. She began to fidget, stopping almost immediately when the sword was moved to her unguarded neck.

"My name's Lisa. I'm a traveler." She said.

"Why did you follow me?"

"Follow you? I'm, uh, here for the view." She winced—that lie was pitiful, even in her own ears.

Kratos made a noise of disbelief. "Indeed. Why were you watching me and my charge's group at the tavern?"

"Tavern? What tavern?"

The sword pressed down on her neck enough to form a red line. Niaki flinched, shying away from the cold steel. The arrival of another blade on her other side forestalled any further movement. "I would advise you to not play games with me, 'Miss Lisa'. Better warriors than you have died at my hand, and I have never had qualms as to how much pain they experienced before the end."

Niaki swallowed. Her throat was dry and her palms felt sweaty. This was a bad situation—not for the first time, she was beginning to regret having dismissed the warnings she had gotten from fellow T-O-S quadrant intelligence officers. She should have known not to ignore anything said about characters from this verse—especially considering how many of the things that had been said were true.

One of her hands inched casually towards a dagger at her belt.

One of the blades at her neck shifted angles slightly, just enough to remind her of its presence. "Did you not just hear what I said?"

Her hand dropped limply. "W-what did you want to know?"

"Who your superior is."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Kratos' voice seemed to gain a hard edge. "Tell me regardless."

"… You're not going to believe me."

In response, one of the blades pressed harder.

"Ow! Okay, okay! He's—Argh, this sounds so weird… he's… well… he's…"

At that moment, however, the sound of a cricket chirping came from her pocket again.

"… Don't answer it."

"Don't answer what?"

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"Your communications device."

"Hey, you know what that is? Isn't Sylvarant supposed to be less technologically advanced than Tethe'alla?"

"The moon?"

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

Niaki closed her eyes, making a face. "Yes, Kratos. I'm talking about the moon." She muttered sarcastically. So preoccupied she was with her sour remark, she did not care when her cell phone fell silent.

"Who sent you?"

"I told you, you're not—"

"Who told you my name?"

She winced.

"What did you say your name was?" He pressed.

"Nia—Uh, Li—"

"This isn't a game. Your _real_ name, if you'd be so kind." His words were laced with acid. Niaki swallowed.

"I'm, uh—Oh, fine. Niaki."

"Who sent you to watch us?"

"A possessed bunny rabbit wearing a bow-tie, that's who."

The red line at her neck became darker, and a bead of blood formed along it's edge. "Tchagh! Ow ow ow, damnit—I was serious!"

"As am I."

"But he really is a possessed—"

"Are you with the Renegades?" 

"Wait, how did you draw _that_ conclusion?"

"Do you know who their leader is?"

"Y-No! Hey, _Oww!"_

"What is your name?"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"

"Answer the questions."

"But I—"

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"…Don't answer it."

Niaki moved to cross her arms. The blade at her neck twitched, and she scowled and stopped. "You're hurting me." 

"You're not answering my questions."

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"I have to answer my comm. device." Niaki insisted.

"If you do, I will not hesitate to destroy it."

"If you do that, it will explode."

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"…"

Niaki went on. "Of course, if I let it ring without answering it a second time, it will explode anyway."

"Indeed." Said Kratos.

Niaki's eyes widened earnestly. "No, really, it will—I'm a pyrotechnician in my free time, you see, and I mod my own gadgets—"

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"And what do you do in your full time? Who do you work for?"

Niaki heaved a deep sigh. "It really is going to explode. At the very least let me to put it on a rock, and we can move away from it with me at sword-point and continue this sparklingly lovely conversation elsewhere."

"…" He didn't reply.

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"We have four more rings before the device automatically denotes this call as a missed call."

There was a pause.

_Cree-kee-kee-kee._

"… Moving slowly, place the device on the rock beside you. Turn so that I may see your hands at all times, and don't even think of going for those concealed weapons you hold." The mercenary growled.

Niaki nodded, winced, and began to turn. The blades moved away from her throat, giving her just enough space to turn without decapitating herself. "Roger that, Lord of the Death-Glares..." One blade returned to its place. "Ow."

"Care to repeat that?"

She shook her head, now having enough space to do so. "Not especially." She took her cell phone out of her pocket. The girl paused.

"Don't ans—" Kratos began.

She thumbed a button on the device's side, activating an emergency teleportation command. Her outline shimmered. The blade at her neck went straight through as the girl's image lost its tangibility.

Kratos made a startled sound, followed by colorful and vivid swearing.

Safe in her hologram-like state, Niaki beamed and lifted her fingers in a girlish little wave. "Ha-ha! G'bye, bastard—I'll have you know you just lost a fangirl!"

Whatever highly creative reply he might have had was lost to her, as the world in her eyes faded, and her body materialized someplace far, far away.

The mercenary was alone on the cliffs above Asgard, left with nothing but the sound of the wind blowing across the jagged rocks around him.

In his ears, the wind sounded mirthful, as though it were laughing at him.

He gave a withering scowl to the mountainous area around him. With a particularly sharp flap, he adjusted his sparrow-tailed cape, and started off back to the town of Asgard, where he was supposed to be actively guarding his charge.

Kratos left. But the wind stayed behind to laugh.


	2. Sacred Wood

_This is another interlude with Kratos and Niaki. There are no future interludes planned, so expect this to be the last one. This story was partly written to have more Niaki-and-Kratos interaction (again for no special reason other than my own amusement) and to show in passing a few things about her job._

_Instead of Niaki visiting Sylvarant, Kratos briefly goes to earth. Reasons for this are given below._

_Disclaimer: None of the characters you have seen before today belong to me._

Enjoy.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"You're joking!" Niaki yelped at the phone. "Please, tell me you are joking!"

"I'm afraid not, kid. Chelsey messed up—the psychopath's on your land at this very moment."

Niaki ran her fingers through one of her ponytails, her eyes wide and alarmed. "But I'm not ready—I can't deal with this, I've never had a character from another verse in my home-verse before!"

"Hey, Niaki, calm down—he's just there to look at the trees. If he finds what he's looking for, he'll take a few branches and leave. If he doesn't—"

"Mom and dad will kill me if he cuts a tree down! Besides, what if he gets lost and wanders on to a neighbor's land?!"

"Listen to you—you're talking about him like he's five. Kid, he's twenty eight mentally, and thousands of years old physically. If anything, he can take care of himself."

"Not in this world! This is the real world, not Tales of Symphonia—"

"To him, T-o-S is the real world, and the world you're in now is fake. He doesn't care—all he wants is the Sacred Wood, and he'll be on his wa—"

"What makes you even think we _have_ Sacred Wood, that stuff grows in Ozette, a completely different climate than this place's tropical jungle—"

"Niaki, just stop worrying. Chelsey says that she tweaked your land's flora, and that—"

"SHE'S MESSING WITH MY VERSE'S VEGETATION!?" Niaki howled.

"Calm down." The male teenaged voice on the other snapped. When Niaki didn't reply immediately, he went on. "You're a Yaster; you hunt Mary-Sues in your free time with _kitchen knives_. You can deal with that abominable desert heat that I hate like you do not know. You can handle this, and you _will_ handle this, and you're going to get used to it and have fun."

"But—"

"Maybe you don't understand, kid. This isn't a request I'm making—this is an order. Deal with Kratos Aurion being in your verse, on your land, and you'll get paid in permits to visit the verse of your choice while off duty. Fail this mission, then you'll hand in your gloves, and you'll never travel the multi-verse on our business again."

There was silence on Niaki's end of the phone.

"Do you understand, kid?"

After several long moments, there was a quiet, reluctant sigh.

"… Fine. I'll do it."

"Good girl."

Niaki grimaced at the mock condescending tone he used. "I better get some good permits for this…"

"You will. Go."

Niaki hung up her side of the phone, staring morosely out the window at the jungle outside of her house. She wasn't even sure what it was that she had to do. All she knew was that she didn't want anyone from a foreign verse on her land without supervision—preferably hers. Why her co-worker Chelsey had chosen Niaki's place to send Kratos, Niaki did not know.

She did know, however, that Chelsey would definitely be hearing about this later.

The teenager heaved another sigh, reaching up to tighten her two ponytails. Time to deal with a brooding mercenary.

This was going to be difficult.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

After a brief house-wide search for a missing left shoe, Niaki tumbled out across the clearing her house was located in, and into the thick jungle around it.

Leaves crackled and branches snapped underfoot. The insects droned and capered, and the birds screeched and chirruped. The wandering paths through the undergrowth had vines and branches tumbling in from all sides, and the trees around it stretched protectively overhead.

Kratos heard her coming long before she came into view. She was a teenager, waving one hand ahead of her to ward off transparent spider-webs, keeping the other hand close to her side. Every few steps she would glance up and around, as though looking for something.

Once Kratos had identified her as not being a threat, he had looked away. Ignore her—with luck, she would walk on by.

As it would happen, luck was not on his side. Once she spotted him, she began to make her way towards him, scuffing leaves and twigs noisily as she went.

"Hey there!" She called. An irritatingly cheerful smile flickered into view.

Kratos half-turned to face her. "Greetings."

"Whacha doin?"

"It is nothing of your concern."

She wasn't deterred in the least. Having gotten within fifteen feet of him, she stopped walking and crossed her arms. "Actually, it kind of is." She corrected cheerily. "My parents asked me to keep an eye on you while they're out."

As usual, Kratos' blank expression didn't so much as flicker. By contrast, Niaki's grin did. She was lying—it hadn't been her parents on the phone. It had been her coworkers from a job said parents didn't know about.

"May I speak with your parents?" He asked carefully.

"Can't. They're out."

"Then how did they communicate to you to watch me?"

"Magic." She said brightly.

"…"

"So what are you doing?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

"You said that already."

"You had asked the same question." He said pointedly.

"I need to know what you're looking for to see if I can help."

"I never said I was looking for anything."

"You can't be waiting for someone."

"Why is that?"

Niaki sighed and shuffled her feet, examining the ground underneath them. "… Look, Kratos. I know about the deal you made to come here."

"…"

The teenager looked up to find him studying her with a frown, his hand on his longsword's hilt. At the sight of that, Niaki quickly hurried on.

"Um, you made a deal with someone called Chelsey, right?"

"…"

"I'm guessing you weren't able to find Sacred Wood in Ozette. Chelsey must have gotten orders to ensure you got whatever resources you needed, and she offered to send you to somewhere where you could get them. Only she's gone now, isn't she?"

Again, the mercenary didn't respond. Niaki smothered the growing irritation she was feeling—so far, Kratos was the only person she knew who could vocalize 'dot-dot-dot' this easily.

"The people higher up found out about that, and sent me to help you find it and send you back home."

"I do not require your assistance."

"I don't care, I'm here anyway."

"You claim you know what it is that I seek. If you wish to assist me, then why don't you assist me in searching?" His blank expression never wavered, but his voice was beginning to sound irritated.

"I would, but I haven't the faintest idea what Sacred Wood trees look like."

"…"

"I mean, what texture is its bark? What do its leaves look like? Do its roots rise above ground to meet the trunk, or are they underground? All I know is that it's big, brown, and really heavy when dragged."

Kratos caressed his sword's hilt almost longingly, watching her with an air of extreme annoyance. "The leaves are in the shapes of spearheads. The bark is smooth. The roots are underground. The trees grow to be thick, but not necessarily tall. It must be young, for if it is too thick or tall it will be impossible to collect wood from. Go search for a tree of that description."

Niaki's pigtails bobbed as she gave him an energetic salute, grinning widely. "Yessir! Right away, Sir!" Her tone didn't seem sarcastic, but the final effect was.

She turned away and started down an overgrown path Kratos hadn't noticed at first. Soon she faded from sight among the trees, but Kratos' acute hearing could hear her nonetheless.

Muttering to himself in Angelic, Kratos strode down a different path, more than ready to finish his present task as quickly as possible.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"Kraaaa-tooooos, I fouuuuunndd—"

"Be silent." Kratos snapped. "There could be enemies about."

Niaki rolled her eyes, making it a point to noisily kick up dry leaves as she walked towards him. "We don't have monsters here, Kratos."

"How did you and that girl Chelsey know my name?"

"Magic."

He gave her a look saying 'And you really expect me to believe that?'.

Niaki grinned when she saw it. "No, really—it's magic! Isn't it cool?"

"Indeed." His eyes narrowed, but he left his questions to ask them later. "Where is the tree you found?"

Her grin faded, and she turned, beckoning over one shoulder. "Down this path—follow me."

Hand on his hilt, the mercenary ghosted after her. Niaki glanced back when she didn't hear him. Yes, he was following her, but he was some how managing to place his feet carefully enough that his footsteps hardly made a sound.

Looking forward again, she went out of her way to step on fallen twigs and branches. For a while they traveled in relative silence, neither of them speaking.

When they finally talked again, it was Kratos who spoke first. A brooding frown was on his face, and his posture was tense. "Are you attempting to alert someone of our presence, or are you merely deaf enough not to hear the din you are causing?"

"No-one should be on this property except my family, my coworkers, and our guests. Since my parents are out in town today, and it's summer vacation, and I'm off duty, that rules everyone else but you and I off."

"Nevertheless, it is foolish to call attention to yoursel—"

"WHOA!" Niaki leapt back towards him suddenly, shying away from something unseen. The next instant, Kratos had his sword drawn, and was moving towards the area she had retreated from. He was just in time to watch as a brightly colored snake's tail vanished from sight beneath a bush.

"Damn, that was huge!" Niaki stared in the direction it had gone.

Kratos sheathed his sword, his lip curling. "I have seen larger. Please continue onward."

"But…"

"The snake is gone, Miss…?"

"Niaki. I'm Niaki Nirelace."

"Miss Niaki, that snake was no threat. Please continue to lead me towards the tree."

Niaki stuffed her hands into her teal pant's pockets, beginning to stride down the pathway more quickly than they had entered it. "We're almost there." She mumbled.

"Good."

They turned a corner, and the undergrowth around them began to change. The wall of plants on either side of them became thicker, and the mount of trees stretching above them dwindled.

"… How did you know my name?" Kratos asked.

Niaki glanced back at him. "I'm not allowed to say."

"I must know."

"Do you know what this place is?"

"This is an alternate universe."

"Did Chelsey tell you that?" Niaki asked curiously.

"…I can sense no mana here. No other explanation as to how we can still exist in spite of it's absense it would make sense."

"Ah—Right. Mana… I was wondering if we had any…"

"Please continue."

"Oh, right. Well, this being an alternate universe and all… In this verse, you don't exist, and in your verse, I'm pretty sure I don't exist. Your verse and mine are radically different, but both our verses have quirks and bits where elements from one verse or the other shines through."

"…"

"What I mean is… Well, sometimes an artist in your world will do something nobody had ever thought of, while in this verse we might already have an entire franchise dedicated to it. Like… There's an ice sculpture in Flanoir of something called 'Pacman', yet in this verse, Pacman is a widely recognized videogame character."

"Ah. I assume that videogame is a form of entertainment here involving magi-technology?"

"There's no mana here, so no magitechnology. We do have plain technology, though. In our verse, a group of people got together and made a videogame called Tales of Symphonia—Argh! Gackth, ptooie!" Niaki stopped walking, waving and moving her hands as though fighting an unseen enemy. "Bleagh--Spider web! Hate those, you never see them coming…"

"Hm."

"Alright then, moving along—Hey, that's the tree over there!" Niaki pointed towards a tree just off the path, with a few ferns in the way.

"Which one—Nevermind. I see it." The auburn haired mercenary began to make his way towards it. "Continue, please." He said, not turning to look at her.

"I'm going to get in trouble for telling you all of this… then again, Chelsey's the one that started it, and knowing a verse where there's a Kratos that already knows what's going on could be useful."

"Hm." His tone was unreadable as he began to walk around the tree.

"Ah, right—Tales of Symphonia is what the videogame's called. You might say it focuses on Colette's Journey of World Regeneration as a chosen, but the story focuses more on Lloyd. Since you're with Colette for the… journey, you're in the story, too."

Kratos looked around the tree at her. "… So you are not the only one who knows of us."

"No." Niaki agreed. "I'm not. I am, however, most likely the only person you're going to have to deal with. Not including Chelsey, of course."

"Hm." Without warning, the mercenary crouched, springing upwards in an impossibly powerful jump. Without a small sound of rustling branches, he disappeared into the tree's branches.

"Whooooaaaa!" Niaki grinned widely, hurrying forward to look up from below him. "That's awesome!"

"Hm." Came from above.

"Man, I wish I had those enhanced abilities that expheres give you—That would be so cool!"

"You know of expheres." It wasn't a question. Niaki answered as though it was one anyway.

"Yep—I also know where they come from, though. I'm not sure I actually want one of my own, but it sure would be cool to jump like that…"

"… Hm."

There was the sound of rustling branches. Niaki squinted as leaves began to fall. "Hey, what are you doing up there? Can I help?"

"Move." There was the sound of something sawing at wood.

"Huh?"

"Move."

"Why—HEYWHOA!" Niaki scrambled out of the way, tripping over an upraised tree root.

Behind her, a huge, frighteningly heavy branch fell heavily to the ground she had previously been standing on. She and the ground beneath her shuddered and rebounded from the impact, as though a small, compact pickup-truck that had fallen instead of a mere branch. Birds took flight screeching their discontent, and small critters that had been previously unnoticed fled from the loud noise.

Moments later, a considerably lighter mercenary dropped onto the branch. In his hand he had a long, saw-edged knife. It was coated in tree sap and saw-dust.

"YOU CUT DOWN A TREE!" Niaki wailed.

"I cut down a branch." Kratos corrected.

She rolled over, glaring at him. "That tree's going to die from such a large branch being cut off, you—"

"The tree will survive. It is in its nature."

"You retard, you almost killed me!" Niaki pointed at him accusingly.

"I gave you fair warning." Kratos replied. He turned to examine the branch he had felled.

"You idiot, you gave me two seconds, I almost /died/, that's such a big branch, and—"

"Miss Nirelace." Kratos said without turning. His tone was quiet, but there was obvious menace in it. "Would you kindly keep a civil tongue in your head, and lead me to where I might return to my 'verse', as you call it?"

"I can open a portal here." Niaki muttered sullenly, crossing her arms. "But what if someone heard that tree-branch fall? What if someone comes to see what happened?"

"You told me yourself that no one would be on this land, and thus no one would be near enough to have heard it." Kratos pointed out.

"Oh come on, that branch was loud enough to wake the dead bodies I'm sure are buried somewhere around here from past land owners!"

"… I'm sure. Miss Nirelace, if you are this against allowing me to be seen here, would you kindly open this 'portal' to return me to my world?"

Niaki noticed that though his words were polite, there was a distinctly forced quality. The tight grip the man had on his sword's hilt might have had something to do with it. The cold glare he was fixing her with might have had something, too.

"Aaargh—Right. Fine." The teenager uncrossed her arms, turning away. She held out one gloved hand ahead of herself.

There was a metal rectangle across the back of her hand. When she twisted her fingers into a complex array of gestures, the rectangle began to glow. As Niaki finished another gesture, the light traveled down her hand to her fingertips, where the glow left her altogether. It hovered in the air like a day-time firefly, or like a small light-bulb.

"Username, Niaki. Password…" Niaki's voice disappeared altogether, and she mouthed a following word.

The small sphere grew suddenly, becoming a large, circular, glowing door. It was teal in color, and appeared to be made of some sort of metal.

Niaki didn't lower her hand. "It'll open if it's approached—be careful to duck as you go through."

"Thank you." Kratos replied curtly, taking hold of a convenient branch coming out from the main branch.

"You're welcome." Niaki still didn't move. Chances were that if she did, the portal would disappear.

Without another word, Kratos dragged the branch towards and through the portal, which hissed open in a sci-fi-esque sound effect. The world on the other side was sunny, and seemed to consist fields, with mountains on the horizon.

Once he was through, Niaki waved at him. "Bye!"

He lifted a hand in acknowledgement of her gesture, and turned away.

Niaki lowered her hands, and the door vanished. She turned towards the path, starting on her way home.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"I finished the mission. He's got his Sacred Wood, and he's back in his verse. Where're my permits?"

"You can come collect them next time you come in to headquarters. They'll be on your desk, right after you finish your paperwork."

"… You troll, that's cheating!"

The voice on the other phone's end laughed. "Then you should have made sure we wouldn't do it before you completed your mission!"

"My paperwork's three times as thick as this phone book!" She lowered the phone for him to hear the sound of her thumping a book in question. "There's no way I could do that any time soon!"

"Then these permits will be extra motivation for you to finish, no?"

"But—But you'll have forgotten by the time I finally do!"

"Not my problem."

"You troll!"

"Heheh—Ah, sorry, there's my beeper, Jason's got another assignment for me…"

Niaki replied to the sound of the phone being hung up with extremely rude explicatives about her coworker's mother. Unfortunately, she was too late—he was gone.

She stood there, staring at the kitchen's phone for several long moments. After that, she shook her head, hung up, and left the room.

It was time to play videogames. After all, it wouldn't do to let knowledge of other verses become rusty. The fact that she had several aggressive fighting games in mind didn't hurt in the least.

Combat sound effects and exciting background music filled the house for the rest of the day.


End file.
